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Folk Art Museum Picks New Director

The American Folk Art Museum in New York, which almost went out of business last year because of financial struggles, has appointed a new director, the museum announced Wednesday.

The board selected Anne-Imelda Radice, who recently served as director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that supports libraries and museums. She will start next week.

Struggling under a deficit and disappointing attendance, the museum was forced to close its 10-year-old flagship building in Midtown in 2011 and move to a smaller location near Lincoln Center in Manhattan. After considering dissolution and the transfer of its collections to another institution, the museum decided to continue operating with the help of financial infusions from trustees and the Ford Foundation.

Despite this rocky recent history, Dr. Radice, who has a doctorate in art and architectural history, said she was optimistic about the museum’s prospects.

“The kind of consolidation they were able to accomplish, the way they protected the collection, the high quality of the work that they’ve done under difficult circumstances to me is inspiring,” she said in a telephone interview. “I’d very much like to be a part of bringing the museum to the next level.”

“Just because it doesn’t have the square footage right now,” she added, “doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a wider and larger footprint in the world.”

Dr. Radice also served as acting assistant chairman for programs at the Humanities Endowment; chief of staff to the federal secretary of education; and chief of the creative arts division of the United States Information Agency. She was previously the first director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts and an assistant curator at National Gallery of Art.

A version of this article appears in print on 09/06/2012, on page C3 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Folk Art Museum Picks New Director.